Page 86 of Surviving Love

“Well, then I slit Rob’s… you know… throat.” I wasn’t a huge fan of his gruesome analogy.

“I just can’t believe you don’t see how much of a threat he is.”

“I do see it. I guess I don’t care.” I dropped the load of firewood I held onto the ground near the shelter.

Sherry walked up. “There’s our hero.”

My face warmed. “I’m not a hero, Sherry.”

“You saved Jack from the firing squad.” She giggled.

She seemed twice as giddy lately, ever since hearing that Jack wasn’t actually married. I didn’t know if she thought she had a chance now or what was going on with her. For all I knew, Jack had been fooling around with her the whole time too. I was probably flattering myself to think I was the only one Jack had hit on.

Julia came running up, her red hair in pigtails. “Guys, there’s a boat landing onshore.”

“Really?” Harold frowned, peering toward the beach.

“Is it part of the show?” I asked.

“It has aDevious Islandflag.” Julia smiled at me. “Do you think maybe it’s about the merge?”

Sherry clapped her hands. “Already? Do you think that’s happening today?”

“It’s possible,” I murmured, moving toward the beach.

From down the beach, Jack was heading toward the motorboat bobbing just offshore. He had no shirt on, and his tanned, bare torso caught my eye. The memory of kissing his smooth skin raced into my mind, and I grunted. The last thing I needed was to remember being intimate with him. It was hard enough ignoring him as things were.

A young Pilipino girl jumped gracefully down from the boat. “This message is for you.” She smiled, brushing her silky black hair from her eyes as she handed Jack an envelope. “Shep said for you to expect visitors very soon.”

Jack tore open the letter and read aloud, “Congratulations, you’ve made it to the merge. This afternoon you’ll feast on champagne and hamburgers as you welcome the Karangalan members and become one tribe. Pick a new name for your combined tribe, and we’ll see you tomorrow at the challenge.”

Sherry and the others all started clapping and dancing around happily. I stood back, and Jack was beside me. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. If Larry was still around on the other tribe and he wanted to join me and Jack, that might work. If Jack was open to Larry. He’d been a bit weird about Larry before, and I had no idea why.

“So, we’re staying here at our camp?” Billy asked.

“Sounds like it,” Jack said.

Harold harrumphed. “The shelter won’t be big enough for all of us.”

“We’ll have to expand it.” Jack didn’t seem concerned.

“We should straighten up camp, guys. To make our new guests feel at home.” Sherry clasped her hands, looking thrilled. “It will be so fun to have new people to talk to.”

“And more mouths to feed,” Jack said.

“They aren’t actually guests,” Mary said. “They’re going to be living here from now on.”

“True.” Sherry nodded.

The Pilipino girl said, “The food will arrive with the other tribe in about an hour. Good luck to you with your new tribe.” She climbed back into the boat, and it roared away, leaving a puff of black smoke and the scent of diesel in the air.

I watched the boat disappear around the edge of the island and turned to go back to camp. I’d made it to the merge. That was almost unbelievable to me. From this point on, each challenge would only offer individual immunity, which meant the chances of being voted off increased. If I wanted to be protected for sure, I’d have to win the Protection Necklace at each challenge. Something told me that was something Jack would probably do more easily.

Jack fell into step beside me as we made our way toward camp. “We made it to the merge,” he said.

“Amazing.” I sighed. “My mom thought I’d be the first person voted off, yet here I am on day thirteen.”

He frowned. “She told you you’d be first?”